A dominant first period was not enough as the Florida Panthers rookies surrendered six goals in the third in a 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at the 2024 Rookie Showcase in Nashville.
After scoring in Friday’s game, Hunter St. Martin opened the scoring at 4:24 by taking a short pass from Gracyn Sawchyn before going coast to coast and chipping the puck past goaltender Yaniv Perets.
Ben Steeves would take possession after a turnover and sweep a backhand feed over to camp invite Riley Hughes, who buried it to give the Cats a 2-0 lead at the 9:37 mark.
The Hurricanes started to tilt the ice in the second period, but starting goalie Jan Spunar managed to hold them off the board, posting a clean sheet until he departed midway through the frame.
Carolina quickly solved his replacement Lukas Matecha when Ronan Seeley punched in a perfect pass into the low slot from Scott Morrow with 9:48 remaining in the period.
Matecha got the flagging Panthers to the locker room with its one-goal lead intact only to see the wheel come flying off in the third.
After Matecha made back-to-back saves, Gleb Trikozov fired the third chance in to even it up at 3:57.
The Panthers responded with a quick goal to go back on top. Maxim Dirracolo came with a takeway near the left point and got the puck to Jamie Armstrong, who skated down the flank and whipped a back door pass to Nicholas Zabanehoioi, who tapped it home.
Trikozov would convert another rebound and then finish off a beautiful power-play set up from Connor Lockhart in front to give the Hurricanes the lead. The 20-year-old put up a hat trick in a 6:08 span. Yikes!
Morrow gave Carolina some breathing room with a power-play one-timer and then Bradly Nadeau and Bryce Montgomery tallied to complete the scoring.
The Panthers get the day off before facing the Tampa Bay Lightning Monday at 11 a.m. to finish the showcase.